All-Star break chance for White Sox to start anew

CHICAGO -- White Sox manager Robin Ventura looked at the All-Star break as a way to put the team's dismal first half as a distant memory.

"You know when you have that many days off in a row, you can kind of cleanse yourself of whatever the bad things that have happened," Ventura said. "You just start over again.

"It's like coming out of Spring Training again to where you can have a fresh start and go. Maybe the way you were swinging wasn't right or the way you were feeling. You can kind of come out feeling a little bit better and fresher. You want to win games, but again just clean it up. Defensively it wasn't good. Baserunning wasn't good, so that's stuff you want to clean up."

Scott Merkin is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Merk's Works, and follow him on Twitter @scottmerkin. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.